Subject Zero: Mirrors (Book 2)

Chapter 15: Flicker

Wednesday, May 22, 1985
Royal Manor, the Mirror World

Third Person's POV
Tui and La were back in the so-called Mirror World, sneaking into a gothic manor. Tui kept a walkie talkie in the almost empty backpack she had on her back. There was tape on one of the buttons, so Naomi and Alio could hear what was going on with the walkie they were using at the treehouse.

La walked up the door to a room which she had never been in. She knocked on it, and when not hearing a response, she suddenly summoned a black key in her hand, as if she pulled a shadow and molded it in her palm. When she unlocked the door with the key, it vanished in thin air, fading away.

Naomi and Alio with their walkie talkies were staying silent, since Tui and La told them to stay quiet and to not say anything until one of them said a specific phrase.

The door creaked open, and Tui instantly summoned a small ball of light in her hand when noticing the room was dark. She almost immediately went over to an old dresser, seeing papers and random objects sticking out of it.

La just looked around, observing the room in genuine interest but utter confusing at the random things that were in the room. "...Interesting," she mumbled, staring at a white pair of button eyes on the floor, along with bright red locks of hair in a corner.

Tui searched through the messy dresser, not finding what she was looking for; but found something she thought was suspicious: large files about Akari and Tsuki.

"What in the hot, crispy, Kentucky Fried fu-" Tui whispered.

"What is it?" asked Naomi on the walkie talkie, knowing what Tui had just whispered was a code allowing she and Alio to communicate with them.

La approached Tui, looking at the files, and whispers, "Joplin kept files about us?"

      "About our human selves, yeah."

      "I thought we were communing with our shadows when we found out about him, this place, all of it. He's a Shade himself; part shadow... Who's to say he wasn't pretending to not know us when we met him?"

Tui sort of sighed as she opened a different drawer. They both froze when they hear creaks, getting louder and louder, as if they were footsteps approaching the door.

"Tui... La," said the familiar male voice as the person opened the door. It was Joplin. "You've come back."

Alio and Naomi didn't say anything on the walkie talkies and stayed quiet.

Tui closed the drawer she'd opened. "We had to..."

Joplin, standing by the doorway, says, "For this?" as he held up the mirror they were looking for.

La says, "Yes."

"I see..."

Joker & Mizuki's Circus Tent, the Mirror World

Hours had passed since Zero last fell asleep, and she was beginning to wake up. Although she was asleep for hours, it only felt like a few minutes.

She saw Alexandria sitting next to her, with a blank expression plastered on her face as she just fidgeted with her fingers.

Joker was sitting by the fire pit even though there wasn't any fire lit. But he wasn't paying attention to that, and was only staring up at the patch of stars in the sky.